Permanent Vacation

Synopsis

In downtown Manhattan, a twenty-something boy whose Father is not around and whose Mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for more meaning in his life and meets a few characters along the way.

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Wanting to give Jarmusch another try after seeing Coffee and Cigarettes years ago, I figured I'd start from the beginning. With his debut film, Permanent Vacation, it's obvious that Jarmusch has an incredibly unique style and vibe that is almost the antithesis to Hollywood sensibilities and imaginings of rebellion and ennui. Instead of examining where that malaise comes from, he simply takes it as fact that some people feel this way, which is narratively liberating. He understands that Hollywood has been bastardizing this type of character for decades, and instead dives right into a slice-of-life story of this kind of character. Instead of being told through exposition and philosophical dialogues why Allie does what he does, Jarmusch is better able…

"I'm a certain kind of tourist. A tourist that's on a permanent vacation." ~ Allie

The first feature film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch shows us aspects of New York City and its Lower East Side residents of the late 1970s that outsiders will probably find surprising. We are presented with scene after scene of empty streets, decaying buildings and bleak alleyways piled high with rubble and overgrown with weeds. We see tenements hardly inviting to roaches, cement stoops occupied by sullen children, and cloudy grey skies framing every view of the dismal cityscape.

It is here in this forlorn environment that we find the film's main character, a slacker named Aloysius "Allie" Christopher Parker (Chris Parker), who tells…

It has taken me years to get to it, but Jim Jarmusch's feature film debut, Permanent Vacation just isn't very good. While it features a lot of stylistic attributes that would become fulfilled in his future films, Permanent Vacation feels more like a test film, and less like an actual film.

It was shot on 16mm when Jarmusch was 27, shortly after he dropped out of film school. Jarmusch's wishes to break film rules are clearly evident here, as this film isn't about much and has little care for conventional filming. But it's not that assured here, and the lively energy and eccentric nature is not quite here yet. But it's coming.

For me some of it worked and some of it didn't. The opening monologue is great, the dancing scene is hilarious and perfect, and the character building is obviously on point. Of course it's impressive how much Jim Jarmusch could do with so little money and experience, and it definitely seems to prefigure a lot of his style (from what I can tell only having seen one other of his movies), but for me it was only so-so. Effective way to reset my expectations going forward though, so for that I'm grateful.

It is not foreign to me to have Jim Jarmusch create a film where its protagonist would simply wonder the streets and interact with the random strangers that fill them. In different ways, such an aesthetic has been the heart of his filmography, paired with a sense of thematic impact and growth that never surpasses the dormancy of his restrained and measured movement, allowing it to bubble underneath for our minds to dwell, but leaving it entirely up to us on how much of these ideas or concepts are worthy of value.

It is highly unfortunate that I meet Jarmusch’s debut with a slight sense of boredom and hostility, lacking in thematic reverb and substance in characterisation that felt more…

''I've known all different kinds of people. Hung out with them, lived with them, watched them act things out in their own little ways. And to me... To me, those people I've known are like a series of rooms, just like all the places where I've spent time. You walk in for the first time curious about this new room -- the lamp, TV, whatever. And then, after a while, the newness is gone, completely.''

''I'm just not the kind of person that settles into anything. I don't think I ever will be. Isn't really anything left to explain that can be. And that's what I was trying to explain in the first place. Just not like that. I don't…

"I'm tired of being alone." "Everyone is alone. That's why I just drift, you know. People think it's crazy... But it's better to think that you're not alone when you're drifting, even though you are, instead of just knowing that you're alone all the time. Some people, you know, they... They can distract themselves with ambitions and... And motivation to work, you know, but it's not for me."

Jim Jarmusch's first film follows Aloysius Parker as he wanders around New York City, just drifting from one experience to the next. Just being himself. Looking. Listening. Learning. There's not a lot going on plotwise, but there are a number of interesting conversations that happen between Allie and the people he meets. It's definitely got that Jarmusch vibe to it.

Feels very much like a film school final project rather than a proper feature. Jim's films are never about some sprawling narrative but always about the characters. Unfortunately I found this Charlie Parker-wannabe too annoying to really get properly invested. The first time one of his films didn't really do too much for me. I appreciate this as a stepping stone to his exceptional work to come but nothing really special here. If I were getting into Jarmusch's films and wanted to start at the beginning I'd skip this and move straight to Stranger Than Paradise.